Palmer Ranch residents secure neighborhood victory

For a moment, the Sarasota County Commission Chambers were silent after the commissioners unanimously approved a rezone petition, but also required the development to have a 50-foot buffer, per the Silver Oaks community’s plea.

Then, the 30-some residents in attendance  realized they got what they wanted. They shook hands, they embraced. A few cried. 

Silver Oaks residents have been working to push back the boundary line of a 170-home development by Taylor Morrison to their south. The approved rezone changes the 103-acre parcel’s zoning from one unit per five acres to 2.5 units per acre.

 Silver Oaks residents didn’t oppose the development; they opposed the 20-foot buffer between the two communities, which neighbors felt did not adhere to the standards of Palmer Ranch or fit with the natural habitat areas in Silver Oaks.

Attorney Charlie Bailey, representing Taylor Morrison, reminded the commissioners that the county’s zoning code didn’t require a buffer between the developments at all — Taylor Morrison had volunteered the original 20-foot separation. 

“Fifty-foot buffers are required nowhere in Palmer Ranch except along major arterial roadways,” Bailey said.

 When the homebuilder first revealed its plans, some of the residents and the homeowners association took immediate action to engage with Taylor Morrison to get a bigger buffer. By the time the proposal reached the Planning Commission, the buffer had been bumped to 30 feet, with a 4-foot berm and a 6-foot wall that would give an 80% opacity to the space between homes. The Planning Commission further stipulated that Taylor Morrison only build a maximum of 13 homes along Silver Oaks’ southern boarder. 

But the Silver Oaks residents continued pushing.

Jorg Hernler, one of the neighbors facing the now-vacant parcel, and other neighbors went door to door to built awareness, and gathered about 280 signatures protesting the buffer. The neighborhood organized more than 20 speakers for the meeting. 

The commissioners went further than to grant just the 50-foot berm; they also stipulated that out of the 13 homes allowed to be built on the Silver Oaks’ border, Taylor Morrison could only build five two-story homes. 

Commissioner Charles Hines proposed an amendment to the rezone petition to stipulate the 50-foot buffer and five two-story home limit, which Commissioner Christine Robinson seconded. 

“We had credible, professional public testimony,” she said. “I understand the idea behind that community — nature.”

Barbara Marinan, one of the 11 residents who will abut the new development, couldn’t stop smiling after the vote.

“We stuck together and really became a neighborhood,” she said.

“We stuck together and really became a neighborhood.”

– Barbara Marinan, Silver Oaks resident